EPA identifies two Cork businesses as national enforcement priorities
Sites on the list pose a risk to water quality. File picture: Dan Linehan
Two Cork businesses have been placed on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement list for non-compliance with environmental regulations in the third quarter of 2024.
North Cork Co-Op Creameries Limited, and Timoleague Agri Gen Limited, were among seven premises listed by the EPA as “national priority sites” in a report on Tuesday.
According to the publication, North Cork Co-Op Creameries Limited was included on the list because of “discharges to water and air emissions”, while Timoleague Agri Gen Limited was included for “infrastructure and facility management".
“Discharges to water and facility management” also secured Waterford’s Starrus Eco Holdings Limited a place on the list, while Tipperary Co-operative Creamery Limited had issues with “discharges to water and infrastructure".
A pig farmer in Co Longford, was noted for “discharges to water, waste management, and facility management”, and in Donegal, non-compliant discharges to water was discovered at Aurivo Consumer Foods Limited.
Lastly, CRM Pigs Limited in Co Cavan also had unauthorised discharges to water, waste management and facility management.
A site’s presence on the national priority sites list indicates a poor level of licence compliance, and three of the sites on the list are milk processing sites — North Cork Co-Op Creameries Limited, Tipperary Co-operative Creamery Limited, and Aurivo Consumer Foods Limited.
Each of these sites has also featured on the national priority sites list previously.
According to programme manager of the EPA’s industrial licence enforcement programme, Pamela McDonnell, “milk and milk effluent pose a significant risk to local streams and rivers if it is not carefully managed".
She said: “The dairy sector must prioritise investment in environmental controls to prevent the discharge of polluting material. This remains a priority issue for the EPA."
Other sites on the list also pose a risk to water quality.
Both Waterford’s Starrus Eco Holdings Limited, and Timoleague Agri Gen Limited failed to provide sufficient infrastructure to protect groundwater and surface water.
Similarly, the pig farmer in Co Longford, and CRM Pigs Limited in Co Cavan showed that poor management of waste and storm water increased the risk of contaminated discharges.
Commenting on Tuesday’s publication, director of the EPA’s office of environmental enforcement, Dr Tom Ryan, said: “Our enforcement activities are risk based and we prioritise sites that are not complying with their licence.
“As noted in the EPA’s recent State of the Environment report, a disproportionate number of sites on the national priority sites list have been from the dairy processing and waste sectors. This trend continued in quarter three 2024.
“The seven sites on the current list will be the subject of targeted enforcement action to ensure that the environmental issues are addressed, and compliance is restored.”
The national priority sites system is a system of performance-based indicators to rank industrial and waste licensed sites in order of priority for enforcement. It allows the EPA to target its enforcement effort at the licensed operators with the poorest environmental performance.
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